The concept of making finished battery terminals through a cold forming process is described in Ratte et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,840 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,373,720. In the Ratte et al. patent, a set of dies and a punch coact to squeeze a lead slug into the shape of a finished battery terminal. In another process shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,197, a set of dies squeezes a lead slug into the shape of an unfinished battery terminal where both ends of the battery terminal are cut off to form finished battery terminals. In still another process, a set of dies and punch are used to squeeze a lead slug into a battery terminal that requires finishing of one end of the battery terminal.
One of the problems associated with the production of battery terminals is that not all batteries require the same length of terminal. Consequently, some battery terminals must be made shorter and some battery terminals must be made longer. The process of forming a finished battery terminal to one size and forming a battery terminal to a different size requires removing and inserting new dies which is a time consuming process, that slows down the production capabilities of the machinery as each time the new dies are inserted, the machines need to be adjusted until the proper size and the proper conditions of the cold formed metal is obtained. With the present invention, the battery terminals are made to the length of the longest needed battery terminals and then a portion of the battery terminals is removed to provide finished battery terminals of shorter length without having to disrupt the automated production process of the battery terminals. Thus, more battery terminals can be manufactured from a single machine, as no down time is required to change dies.
This allows for the manufacture of multiple types of battery terminals from a single die casting machine.
The present invention provides a process and apparatus for converting a finished battery terminal suitable for a first application into a battery terminal suitable for a second application in one operation that does not require reforming of the battery terminal, and does not induce stress, thereby eliminating down time as well as time and costs to set up the die casting machines.